Enewsletter

Enewsletter • October
17, 2012

Notes
from Vegan Outreach

AAC
Amazing!

Wow!

Even
though it’s only mid-October, Adopt a College
activists have already reached more than 525,000
students at over 550 schools!

By
the time you read this, John
Oberg (right) will have handed a booklet directly
to 55,000+ students this term, and Nikki
Benoit (left) – who has reached at least 72,000
students each of the past four terms! For reals! –
will have given a booklet to 50,000+.

One
of our best behind-the-scenes volunteers, Dawn
Ratcliffe (below), has now quietly reached over
100,000 individuals, as well as supplying one
of our favorite quotes:

Since
becoming vegan in 1995, I have distributed
tens of thousands of Vegan Outreach leaflets
in a dozen states (and counting). Although
I started using VO literature early on in
my activism, I still felt that leafleting
by itself wasn’t as effective as protesting
every weekend. I couldn’t have been more wrong,
especially when I looked at the amount of
time I spent organizing protests, calling
activists to attend the protests, making signs,
etc. Maybe I felt that since I had invested
so much time and effort, protesting had to
be more effective than simply handing out
leaflets for an hour or two. Thank goodness
that Vegan Outreach continues to steer activists
in the right direction!

Congratulations
to all leafleters and donors – you are changing
the world every day!!

From
“Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!”
& Jack Norris RD Blogs

Product
of the Week

Kassy:
“Almond milk is an absolute staple in our
household! Like many, I am looking to cut back
the grocery bill and Silk almost always has
coupons that I can print off right from their
website! Silk Pure Almond has calcium and only
about 40–90 calories per serving (depending
on which of the many flavors you choose)! Almond
milk in general contains more vitamins, minerals
and antioxidants than cows’ milk. So delicious
and full of flavor without the cholesterol and
saturated fat makes almond milk the #1 milk
choice in our diet.”

Notes
from Our Members

After a little under three years
of volunteering, today at Winona
State is Day #1 being officially employed by
Vegan Outreach. It’s safe to say that there
is absolutely nothing I’d rather be doing in
this world than engaging in some of the most
effective outreach I possibly can, while getting
the opportunity to explore the continent, interact
with the public, and meet / hang out with some
of the coolest people in the entire world. I
love VO and the whole family of leafleters,
volunteers, hosts, and donors.
As for today,
I set a new personal record, reaching 2,761
students with Even If You Like Meat,
and handed out 20 Guides
and an AML.
I got in early and stayed until the 3:00 class
change. The Winona students were very receptive
and I was thanked numerous times for being out
there in the sun (which unfortunately led to
me having one of the worst farmer’s tans in
my life). Heard lines such as “Keep up
the good work!” and “It’s a good handout,
I didn’t know most of the stuff in there.”—John Oberg (above, leafleting St. Cloud State University), 8/28/12

Jayme and some
friends
joined me and Jennifer [Greene, left] at Stony Brook U – we
reached an incredible 3,930 students! Several students
stopped back to say they want to change over
to veg; they each got a Guide. We gathered
the names of 17 students who are interested
in either starting an AR group on campus, getting
veg options into the cafeteria, and/or leafleting!
We’ve already heard back from one student who
is going to take the lead in forming a group;
Jennifer and I will back with support!
Ann joined me
at SUNY, Old Westbury – she took to leafleting
really well! Met two students interested in
leafleting; gave them each a Guide
and AML. Also met a teacher who teaches about
animal welfare / factory farming in her psych
class. She asked me for a dozen Even If You Like Meat
to hand out in class; I gave her six Guides
to hand out as well. Two students came
back to say they were disgusted by what they
saw in the Compassionate Choices booklet,
and said that they would cut back on their consumption
of meat immediately. A man stopped to chat,
and said that he does not eat red meat. We discussed
the horrors that other animals experience in
the food industry, and he said that he would
read the Even If I gave him, and the
Guide, and try to start cutting out
pork and chicken!—Karen James, 8/30/12

It was awesome of Angelo to
join me for a whole day of leafleting at Millersville
University!Some highlights:

A young woman said, “You converted
my friend last year. She’s still vegetarian.”

Another young woman said, “I already
got that. And I already cried over it.”

And yet another young woman said that she
recently turned vegan and was interested in
getting involved. I gave her my contact info
(was too rushed to get her info) and gave
her a Guide.

A dude told me that he was in the process
of opening a vegan bakery nearby.

—Jon Camp, 8/30/12

Rashmi Abeysekera spreads the message of compassion at the City College of San Francisco.

Leafleting the Red Line station
was somewhat hit-or-miss, but one guy came back
after reading the booklet and said he was going
to make a change right then and there. He seemed
very honest and shocked by what he had read.
Just that one person made the entire time worth
it!
Jenna and I had
a good day at the College of DuPage. A lot of
students were really shocked to learn the truth.
Several great conversations with groups, and
a number were ready to make a change.—Pam Stelmasek, 8/30/12

Reached 195 students at
Fresno High in only 18 minutes! At Fresno City
College, I met a woman who said she was already
thinking about going vegan and was really excited
to get some help. Met a couple others who used
to be vegetarian and were interested in getting
back to it. A beautiful day and a few hours
well spent.—Jonathan Hussain, 8/30/12

Lois and I had an interesting time
at the farmers’ market, with loads
of interactions. A woman took a booklet, then
laughingly handed it back to me saying, “My
husband’s a pig farmer.” I said they could
still read the booklet. The husband grabbed
the booklet and started looking at it while
his wife said, “Hey, honey, maybe you can
travel like you’ve always wanted to.” One
young woman said she was more concerned with
humans, but after talking with me a bit, happily
accepted a booklet. Two different people came
back and asked for a second booklet for a friend.
One newish vegan was happy to get a Guide,
an invite to our video showing, and a vegan
button which he immediately pinned to his shirt.
Met a whole family of vegetarians who were happy
to get a Guide and video invite. Lillia
[right] approached me to say that she’d gotten
a Compassionate Choices from me at
the farmers’ market a couple of weeks ago and
has been “pretty much vegan” since.
And her husband, who had eaten a lot of animal
products, is following her down the vegan path.
Yippee!—Barbara Bear, 9/1/12

My mini-leafleting marathon included
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
where almost exactly 20 years ago, Matt Ball
and Anne Green helped me become vegan and an
activist. Clayton [Carr, left] joined me for a few hours
and did strong work on his half of the quad.
I met him this past summer at Pitchfork Music
Festival in Chicago and found out that he became
vegan after getting a booklet from me a few
years ago. He offered to help leaflet, and the
rest is UIUC history!—Joe Espinosa, 8/29/12

Awesome day at the University of Maine, Farmington! Super-friendly students.
An older staff member said she was very happy
to see me handing out the info. A student thanked
me profusely and wished me luck with the outreach.
Very sweet! A different student waved the leaflet
in the air and exclaimed, “Yay vegans!
Whoooo!” She proceeded to tell the person
next to her that she is vegan.—Lana Smithson, 9/6/12

Three of the 2,200 Citrus students reached by Nikki and Kassy.

At Maui Community College, I
chatted with a woman who told me she used to
be vegan but switched when she got married.
She felt like receiving a booklet put her in
the mind to go back to becoming vegan. I also
had a nursing student come up to me and ask
for five booklets to share with her classmates.
And, as always, countless recipients started
reading the booklets moments after they were
received.—Erik Marcus, 9/5/12

The awakening is WAY underway at
Citrus College, where Kassy and I reached 2,200!
Students are always eager to learn more, they’re
droppin’ meat / dairy / eggs like third-period French.
It’s the stuff stories are made of.—Nikki Benoit, 9/6/12

Great day at Chabot College with
Leslie! Interesting chats with
students; met loads of vegans, vegetarians,
and people who agree this is an important issue.
For example, I met a big, strong guy who has
been vegan for six months now and says it’s
working out good and he likes it. Nice! Also
chatted with three really tall guys (rockin’ lots of sports gear and gold teeth)
who were really curious about factory farming.
Felt like I was able to give them some good
answers and pointed out specific pictures and
what was going on in the brochure. They wanted
to check out some videos,
and one of the guys wanted a Guide.

An SFSU student stops in her tracks to read Even If You Like Meat.

Monday,
I was joined once again by the new superstar activist
Rashmi, who soon starts her senior year at Berkeley
High. This day’s leafleting pushes her to
1,600 for the month of August! Eleanor, my leafleting
pal from Sacramento, is now in the Bay Area,
and joined us at Las Positas College. We met
a number of people who are on their way to veg
or who have been thinking about it. I snapped
a pic [above] of a gal who has been veg a year because
of getting a booklet from us last fall at Las
Positas, woo! I also had a really nice chat
with a fella who was shocked by the booklet,
specifically the picture of the baby male chicks
left in a hatchery dumpster because they are
not valuable to the egg industry. He got a Guide;
I’m positive he’ll be thinking about
his food choices differently. Rashmi and I then
stopped at Merritt College. Even though it’s
a small school, the reception is fantastic and
the students are always so interested. When
I went inside to grab a drink, I overheard a
guy order a salad because of the booklet. Also
talked with a woman who wants to start getting
off meat.
Today was a huge
day at San Francisco State, where Kitty,
Diane, Brian, Abel, activists from the local
group SAVVE, and I reached 3,616 students! Lots
stopped to chat, and quite a few thanked us
for spreading the word. Diane ran into a guy
who got an Even If a few years back
and went veg as a result. He went vegan two
months ago and thanked Diane for doing the good
work that changed his life. So cool! I was really
happy to be there for quite a few people who
were in the midst of transitioning to veg / vegan
or who had been seriously thinking about the
issue.—Brian Grupe, 8/28/12

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.